


Case7.5 Training Daydream

by SeptuVariest



Category: Princess Principal, Princess Principal: Game of Mission
Genre: F/F, Original Interpretation of a Canon Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-01-29 22:12:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12640251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeptuVariest/pseuds/SeptuVariest
Summary: After a long day of training, Charlotte can't keep her eyes open any longer, and falls into a particularily odd daydream.





	1. Familiar Faces

"Ange's right, Princess." On a dreary saturday morning, far too cold and damp to go outside, Dorothy called Charlotte to the club room. There, she found Dorothy brushing over the guns and gadgets attached to the flipside of the room's chalkboard. "You've got to learn how to use a gun." With a suprisingly blunt tone, Dorothy pulled one of the guns - a small, elaborate affair - from the board, before spinning it back around with an extravagant flick of her wrist, to reveal a cutesy line drawn onto the chalkboard beforehand.  
_Dorothy! Princess! Gun Training!_

Princess took a moment to appreciate the fancy serif, swallowing a smirk. "This was Ange's idea?"  
"Well, it was everyone's idea." A concerned look growing on her face, Dorothy tried not to remember too much of their last mission, especially with the burns still stinging her legs. "But if Chise hadn't shown up in time, you might've..." She stopped prematurely; it was obvious what would have happened.  
"Would a gun really have helped?" Looking down at the gun laying in Dorothy's hands, Charlotte couldn't help but imagine what she would've done if she'd had it back on the train.  
"Well, hopefully that was the last of the samurais we'll have to be dealing with." With a sigh, Dorothy made sure the safety was on for a second time, and handed it to Charlotte.  
Charlotte took it, feeling the cool weight ease into her hands. "Is it-- is it loaded?"  
"We keep them all loaded, Princess. It's for the best."  
Charlotte's mind wandered to the other side of the chalkboard, and the host of dangers that waited on it, all fully loaded. A very familiar fear crept up her spine for a second, and her hands began to shake, barely able to keep hold of the gun.  
"Don't worry about it, Charlotte. You'll be fine." Dorothy held onto Charlotte's hands for a moment, trying to keep them still. "You can rely on me. I'm an adult, after all." She felt Charlotte's hands steady, and then turned away, back to the chalkboard. "If you're ready, then, let's go while it's still early." Wiping it clean with one stroke of her arm, Dorothy turned back and gave her a smile.  
"Go? Go where?" Charlotte asked, pulling her focus from the gun.  
"We can't be shooting in the academy, can we? Your guards will come running. I've got somewhere set up not too far away." With a reassuring smile, Dorothy walked towards the clubroom door, motioning for Charlotte to follow her. "We're leaving in a few minutes, so grab anything you need."  
Stowing the gun where Ange taught her, in the folds of her uniform, Charlotte followed Dorothy out, and hurried back to her room.

There, she was met with a familiar face. Her own.  
"Ah--!" Opening the door, Charlotte was rudely taken aback by Ange, still sorting out her blonde wig. This being the first time she'd seen it, the sudden mirror-image it created was a shock. "--A-Ange?"  
"Oh, Charlotte!" Ange seemed just as surprised to see her, yanking the wig off her head. After a moment of accusatory silence, she spoke up. "Sorry, I should've told you first." Putting the wig back on, she turned to face Charlotte, posing. "I have to imitate you somehow."  
"That's how..." A few dozen threads connected in Charlotte's head immediately. "...They really were planning to replace me..." A cold sweat broke out across her face, and she determined to change the subject. "Are you coming, today, Ange?"  
Ange was just as eager and Charlotte to switch topics. "To your training?" She shook her head. "No. I have to stay behind in case something comes up for you." Adjusting the wig again, she tried to smile. "It's pretty useful having two pairs of hands, right?"  
"I... Guess..." Trying, and failing, to see her point, Charlotte brushed past Ange, picking up her hat and gloves from her dresser. On the way out, she stopped to take a look at Ange again, but much closer up this time. "I know we used to switch places as children, but..." She swallowed, realising that that was how they got into this mess in the first place. "I don't think it's as funny anymore..." Leaving it at that, Charlotte rushed out the door.  
She found Ange holding her back. "Please, Charlotte!" Her monotone voice drained away, Ange pulled Charlotte back.  
Slightly unsettled by the experience of being dragged around by herself, Charlotte snapped. "What is it?!"  
"You're safe, now. I promise."

Barely managing to find her way through the school to Dorothy's 'private garage', Charlotte almost got lost plenty of times, the image of Ange replacing her still fresh in her mind.  
"Here, right?" Double-checking herself for the third time, Charlotte tried to recall the secret knock.  
_One-Two-One-One-Two_  
A few seconds later, the door creaked open.  
"So kind of you to join us, Charlotte!" A smiling Dorothy greeted her. "The rain just cleared up."  
"Wait a second... Us?" Catching Dorothy's words, Charlotte hesitantly came inside.  
From across the room, a new voice called out. "I hope you won't mind me coming along, Princess!" A familiar school uniform with slightly loose sleeves, a close-cut burgundy ponytail, and a thick blue coat hanging over her crossed arms.  
"S-Stephanie?" Blurting out her name, Charlotte could barely believe she was seeing her. "You're a--"  
Steph cut Charlotte off, rushing over and placating her with a smile and a 'hush'. "Sorry for not telling you earlier, Princess."  
"She's here in case something goes wrong. Beatrice isn't trained, Ange has to stay behind, and my legs are still weak. Frankly, we're a bit shorthanded." Dorothy made her way over to the two. "And--"  
Stephanie interjected. "And I'm super good with guns! Better than Ange, even." She seemed terribly proud of herself.  
"Yes..." Already thrown off by Steph's pace, Dorothy threw open the box car's door and hopped inside. "She'll be joining us today. Hopefully she'll be able to help with your training."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stephanie is one of the characters from Princess Principal's mobage, GAME OF MISSION. For a quick backstory, Stephanie is a Commonwealth spy who attends Queen's Mayfaire alongside our main squad. She's a very popular girl at the school, but she's also a very experienced and competent spy, and once a mission comes up she has trouble balancing the two.


	2. Talk in Ciphers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still coming to terms with a lot of things, Charlotte tries to focus.

Tucked away inside the box car, and driving away from the school, Charlotte found she could relax. An expert at faking her emotions, to the point she could almost fool herself, she rationalized the situation in her head behind a half-smile. _This is going to be fun. I'll learn something new with my friends. At the very least, I don't need to worry_ \--  
"So, Dorothy, what gun'd you give her?" Catching everyone off guard in the silence of the car, Stephanie leaned forwards, past Charlotte, and into the driver's compartment.  
Thankful for the chance to pay attention to something other than her own situation, Charlotte pulled the gun out of her breast pocket and handed it to Stephanie. "I'm interested too, Dorothy. What is this?"  
Steph's eyes immediately lit up. "Dorothy..." Turning to the driver again, she whispered to her. "How'd you get this?!" Stephanie turned it over and over in her hands, admiring it as though it were some collector's edition.  
Dorothy laughed, waving a hand as she tried to remember. "Oh yeah, it's _that_ , isn't it?" Dorothy slowly brought back the memories. "I got it-- Well, found it, in a mission with Quelvo, a few years ago, in Austria. She recognised it instantly, couldn't help herself." A chuckle bounced about the car as she pictured the scene.  
"Quelvo?!" Stephanie almost burst out laughing. "That would explain it. That gun junkie. What, did you kill her and pry it out of her hands? Hardly surprised she'd let you walk off with one of these."  
Charlotte couldn't help but be slightly concerned, hearing about this story full of dangerous figures and potential backstabbings. They were both laughing, though, so she didn't let it get to her.  
"In the end it was a gift, from one collector to another. I saved her life twice that mission, you know." Dorothy perked up for a moment and turned to Charlotte. "Actually, speaking of her, it's her firing range we're going to be spending the day at." Keeping her eyes on the road, she continued. "'Quelvo' is just another spy, you don't need to worry about her. Old military type, you know."  
"Geez..." Handing the gun back to Charlotte and relaxing into the plush of the seat again, a tired look spread across Stephanie's face. "You had better not be planning on meeting her there..."  
Dorothy took a moment before replying. "Unfortunately not. She's been far too busy recently to mess around in Albion." A tinge of sadness seemed to cloud her voice.  
Stephanie seemed as happy as she could be, however. "That aside..." Putting on a serious face through her smile, Steph took another look at the gun, now sitting in Charlotte's lap. "...Is it really OK to give her a semi-automatic?" The term went flying above Charlotte's head, but she could assume it wasn't the safest of words.  
"Well..." Dorothy pulled away. "...It'll be useful in a pinch." Dorothy's hesitant tone didn't help much.

The car continued on for a few more minutes, before Dorothy decided to speak up again. "Oh, Steph. It's probably none of my business, but Ange's been talking a lot about you."  
Stephanie reacted as though she'd been shot. "H-H-Huh?!" Catching her breath, she leaned forwards again, this time almost shouting into her ear. "What do you mean _Ange's been talking about me_?"  
Dorothy smiled, apparently getting the perfect reaction out of her. "She actually gave me a message for you." Dorothy coughed, and put on her best Ange impression. Surprisingly, it wasn't half bad. "Perhaps you should try harder next time. I hope you didn't get a cold."  
Suddenly seething with anger, Stephanie slipped back into her seat, utterly defeated. "...Not fair if she uses the C-Ball..." She mumbled to herself, sinking into the soft fabric.  
Come to mention it, Charlotte had heard Ange talk about Steph a few times before. She would occasionally make random comments during lunch or in the evening.  
_"Third time this week..."_  
_"Hiding in the tree..."_  
_"Good night, Princess, and you too, Stephanie..."_  
If it was a game, Ange clearly had the upper hand. Charlotte managed a smile, imagining the two in some kind of shadow game.

"Are we almost there?" The car had been making it's way slowly through empty fields and forests for a while now, and it wasn't long before Steph piped up, still slightly grouchy from the last topic.  
"What are you, 12?"  
"What are you, 30?"  
A ceasefire was called in the stinging silence.  
"Yes. Just a few more minutes, now."  
Stephanie shuffled about in her seat, her smile returning.  
The quick back-and-forth of the two was enough to blindside Charlotte, but she welcomed the banter nonetheless.

The shooting range itself was steel box that looked like it had been tactically dropped into the middle of a forest. Small, but not enough to be underwhelming, it was lightly camoflauged, and covered by the canopies above. It's strict efficiency gave Charlotte a good idea of Quelvo's character, and she began to wonder wether the place would be full of traps.  
The other two went ahead fearlessly, dissapearing into the steel and gloom of the shooting range. Gripping her gun, Charlotte followed, pushing through the darkness.  
"Lights coming on!" Dorothy's voice echoed through the hideout, and it gradually lit up, lights coming on in a slow sequence.  
The range was just as simple on the inside as Charlotte had assumed. Aside from a pile of crates and a few discarded, half-assembled weapons, the place was just a tunnel with a few dummies at the end. Stephanie was already rooting around inside the crates, a few targets and assorted memorabilia unpacked besides her. As for Dorothy, she had managed to find her way across the room, up a ladder, and over to the light switch, even in the darkness. How many times had she been here before?  
"There we go. Good as new, eh?" Dorothy's voice came through the rudimentary speaker system this time. It seemed she had found herself a comfortable seat, and was idly nursing her leg between glances about the place. "Careful in there, Steph. She keeps those things trapped."  
Stephanie froze up, and then backed off, letting the lid drop down. "R-really?"  
"I wouldn't be surprised."  
Stephanie shot an accusing glance at Dorothy, still sitting contendedly in the windowed room above the range.  
"Besides, we've got something more important to do than root through Quelvo's stuff."  
Stephanie looked over to Charlotte as though she'd forgotten about her. "Oh, yeah." Holding a pilfered rifle in one hand, she walked over to her. "Now, watch this..." With a grin, she crouched down and brought the rifle up to her eye. "Let me know if you've seen Ange shoot like this before." All the friendliness and joking dissapeared from her face, and the first dummy fell, it's head almost exploding in a burst of finely packed feathers. Charlotte wasn't expecting all of Stephanie's talk to actually be true. It was all over in the blink of an eye, and then she was already done reloading. Charlotte could see a slight smirk cross Steph's face as she yanked back the lever. It hit Charlotte then, harder than the bullet had hit the dummy, that Stephanie had been trained to kill, just like Dorothy and Ange.  
Half a second later, the next two dummies fell as one. Significant bullet holes opened up in both of their identical heads, and they collapsed to the floor.  
Stephanie let the gun drop down, dumbstruck. "Charlotte, did you...?"  
"I..." Looking at the gun in her hand, and then at the dummies, Charlotte shook her head. "Don't think I did--"  
"You get a kick out of teaching cute girls how to kill, huh, Dorothy?" From behind them came a voice that sounded as though the shooting range had come alive.  
Stephanie was the first to turn. "Gahh..."  
Charlotte followed suit, but didn't need to turn to know who it was.

"How long'd it take for you to think of that one?" Dorothy called over the speaker, the smile on her face audible.  
Quelvo went silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The GOM references in this chapter are Quelvo and 'Stephanie's Mission'.  
> Quelvo is a retired mercenary with robot arms, who nows works for Control. A silent, violent type.  
> Stephanie's Mission is an event in GOM (One of the only translated ones...) In which Stephanie and her friends are posted to spy on Ange and Princess to try and figure out what's going on. It doesn't actually tell of how successful they were, but if they were against Ange, I imagine the answer is 'not very'.  
> Thanks to (@velteris on tumblr)'s very appreciated work tracking down what Charlotte's gun might be, our best bet is the "Schonberger-Laumann Self-Loading Pistol", which is the gun Charlotte will be using in this fic. It's a perfect fit for the few images we have of her gun, but the problem is that only 35 were made, and in Austria, no less. I managed to think of a creative solution, though.  
> I wasn't planning on involving her, but I thought it might spice things up a bit.


	3. Old Friends

Quelvo clearly didn't have any time for Dorothy's antics. "Tch. At the very least, you shouldn't be breaking into other people's houses and using their things..." Marching up to Stephanie and Charlotte, she stood a good few feet above both of their heads. A scarred face, framed with milky white hair, reared up to meet the two.  
Charlotte managed to squeeze some words out of her mouth first, ever the intermediary. "Miss Quelvo, we weren't intending on breaking--" Charlotte cut herself off with a squeak as Quelvo reached down, and plucked the gun from her fingers without a speck of retaliation. Her steel fingers didn't connect with Charlotte's, but she could feel the steam and violence pumping out of them.  
"But that wouldn't be the first time..." Looking up to Dorothy, who was standing now, inside the glass box above, Quelvo smirked. "I wondered where this had gotten off to..."  
"Dorothy was just using it to--" Cut off again. Stephanie didn't dare speak up as Quelvo loomed over them.  
"But for a princess..." After shooting daggers at Dorothy, she turned back to Charlotte and made a movement that could have been a bow if Quelvo wasn't so much taller than her. "I guess I can make an exception." She dropped the gun back into Charlotte's tiny hands and walked off, before looking down at Stephanie and deciding she wasn't worth the effort. "Don't have too much fun..." Charlotte couldn't help but feel like Quelvo's last comment had some meaning to it.  
Charlotte's legs felt like water. The sheer intensity of Quelvo had bowled her over. Her composure only returned once Quelvo had made her way over to the ladder, and began interrogating Dorothy in the room above. Charlotte couldn't hear what they were talking about, but judging from the amount of flailing hand gestures Dorothy was making, it could hardly be something good.

Stephanie's voice graudally returned, and she managed to gradually stand up. "Safe... Safe..." The colour seeping back into her cheeks, Stephanie hoisted the rifle over her shoulder, and gave Charlotte a wary smile. "Well, now you've seen how the pros do it, let's have you give it go, ok?" Despite her cockiness earlier, Stephanie seemed to be quite a genuine teacher. Charlotte watched as she jogged down the range to stand the dummies back up again. Standing them up with the same efficiency she had dropped them with, Stephanie dusted off their faces, trying to brush over the holes she had planted in them earlier.

"Now, now, Quelvo, can't we talk this out?" Dorothy stammered as the mercenary cornered her. Recoiling until she was almost buried in the satin sofa, Dorothy kept blathering on, until she hit a nerve. "Look, look, I'm injured!" Pulling up her trouser leg to reveal the burns, she braced for impact. "You can't hurt an injured woman, can you?"  
Quelvo stopped. With the eyes of a scavenger she inspected her injury, and then relaxed, her shoulders dropping and her stance relaxing. "I don't remember you being this reckless, Dorothy." Quelvo chuckled to herself. "Actually, now that I think about it, this is excactly as reckless as I remember you." Dropping into another one of the seats arranged around the roughshod living room, Quelvo crossed her legs and threw them over one of the arms. "At least two years ago, it wasn't getting you blown up..."  
Dorothy, finally able to relax, pooled out across the seat as though she had been metled by Quelvo's glares. "What's with all this bad blood? I thought we split up on good terms..."  
Quelvo sighed. "It's been a long week." She seemed to relax a great deal then, as though a knot in her stomach had been released.  
"When you're a spy, isn't it always?"  
The two chuckled in unison.  
In a better mood, Quelvo stood. "Ah, that would make you twenty, now, right?"  
"Isn't it obvious?"  
"Not with the uniform." Quelvo walked across the room, towards a crate half-hidden in the only dark corner of the room. "No matter, though." Pulling off the lid with her bare hands, Quelvo picked the crate up and returned to her seat, past a cringing Dorothy. "I'm sure your tastes must have matured since then, too?" Dropping the crate between them, Quelvo's personal stash of wine was revealed.  
Dorothy lit up, the wound on her leg seeming to no longer affect her. She stopped, for just a moment, to consider that she did still needed to drive them back. But only for a moment. 

With the dummies set up again, and Stephanie back by Charlotte's side, the two were eager to begin. "Ok, so for now I think we should just teach you how to reload quickly." Stephanie took the gun from Charlotte's hands, and after a series of deft hand movements, checked to see if it was loaded or not. She balked to see it was.  
"Just... reloading?" Charlotte was hesitant to accept that she would be learning something so-low intensity.  
"Well, the way I see it..." Stephanie stopped for a moment to consider her line of thought. "If you can reload faster than your opponent, then even an idiot can hit someone with twelve bullets, right?" Satisfied, Stephanie handed the gun back. "Just go ahead and shoot, you don't need to hit anything. Point and pull the trigger, couldn't be easier."  
Charlotte wanted to object to Stephanie's patronising tone, but realised to soon how that would look to her experienced eyes. Trying not to hesitate she lifted the gun up, imitating how Ange looked when she held her own gun, and pulled the trigger.

"You were so brave, Beato." Trying to imagine what had happened when Todo Jubei had attacked the train, and how Beatrice had managed to stop him for even a second, Ange sat next to her, smiling as Charlotte would have. "Thank you for protecting me." Even if she was only impersonating the Princess, there was still a hint of genuine thankfulness.  
"I didn't do anything, Princess..." Beatrice mumbled from under the sheets. "I could've died."  
Ange, even with her impenetrable lies, didn't know how to come back from that. So, in silence, she replaced the gauze on Beatrice's forehead, almost having to yank the blankets off her to reach it.  
"I can tend to my own wounds..." Her face growing slightly red, Beatrice pouted out at Ange from the bed.  
"This is the least I can do, Beato. Please, allow me. I trust your neck isn't hurting?"  
"It's getting better, thank you."

Satisfied, Ange stood up, taking with her Beatrice's empty plate and the glass of water she'd just finished. She would be able to walk again in a few days, but for now it was best she stay in bed. As much as Ange hated to say it, Beatrice was slowly becoming a respectable member of the team, even if she did make mistakes like this. At any rate, it was best to keep her around to keep any eye on her.  
"Princess..." Beatrice called up to Ange, and as she looked down, Ange found Beatrice's look was intensely cold. "...Is that really you?"  
"Of course, Beato!" Ange assumed her expression had shifted for a moment whilst she let her mind drift to spy affairs. "Ange's on a mission with Dorothy today, don't you remember?" Ange quickly hurried out of the room, but couldn't shake the shard of ice Beatrice's eyes had lodged in her side for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first posted this chapter it wasn't actually finished. As of 9 of November, this chapter is now finished.


	4. Sharing Secrets

"Hey, you're getting pretty fast!" Contentedly watching from a safe distance, Stephanie gave Charlotte a satisfied smile and a nod of the head. "You sure are a quick learner, huh."  
That wasn't Charlotte's most prised compliment. As much as she hated to admit it, being a 'fast learner' was her most valuable skill. Instead of blurting anything out, though, she simply returned the smile. "Well, fast or not, I still wish I could hit something." Trying not to be disparaged, she looked down at the gun, which she was slowly getting to know better and better, and wondered if she would ever be able to use it like Ange could. The thought wasn't particularily motivating.  
"Well, why don't we give it a go, then?" Stephanie took a look across the shooting range, up to where Dorothy and Quelvo were. "But first..." Whatever she saw, it wasn't very motivating. "...Why dont we have lunch?"  
"Lunch...?" Charlotte looked at her watch, and she was surpised to see that a good few hours had passed since she'd last checked it. "I guess it is time. Has it really been this long?"  
"You looked like you were having fun." With a smile, Stephanie passed by Charlotte and out the door.

A minute later, she was back, along with a large enough picnic basket. Charlotte hadn't been hungry before, but now that she had seen it, an all too familiar feeling rose in her gut.  
"Looks pretty good, huh?" Looking back and forth between Charlotte and the basket, Stephanie strolled over to her and set it on the floor. "You've definitely earnt it, Princess." Dropping to her feet and crossing her knees, Stephanie opened up the basket, letting a dreamy smell drift into the air. Inside was a set of carefully prepared sandwiches, each with different, equally delicious-looking fillings, slightly sparkling under the range's slight neon lights.  
Eagerly, Charlotte took a seat on the ground across from Stephanie. "These look wonderful, Stephanie!"  
"Well, what do you say?" With a smug grin, Stephanie began unwrapping the sandwiches happily.  
Charlotte stopped for a second. "Thank you, Stephanie." For a moment, Charlotte couldn't help but consider the situation. An old friend, one she had spent plenty of time with since she had arrived at Queen's Mayfaire, was now teaching her how to shoot. To kill, even. And now, as though nothing had changed, they were having lunch together, like they had before. "Stephanie, is it OK if I ask you... About being a spy?" She couldn't hold her curiosity back any longer. Besides, she was on their side now. There was no reason for Stephanie to hold secrets back from an ally, even a friend.  
"S--" Almost speaking with a full mouth, Stephanie made sure to observe her manners in front of a Princess, and swallowed before continuing. "Sure. What do you want to know?"  
"How long have you been a spy?" Trying to ease the atmosphere, Charlotte took one of the sandwiches - heavily jam-filled, and made with especially thick bread - from inside the basket.  
"Officially, about five years, now. Training takes a while, but I best not tell you too much about that. It's not too pleasant of a story."   
"And why did you come to Queen's Mayfaire?" Bracing herself for the worst, Charlotte took a deep bite.  
"Haah..." Stephanie cringed, as though she already knew what the answer would mean. "You promise not to think too hard about it?"  
Charlotte nodded politely, trying to eat her sandwich without making too much mess.  
"Well, it was to keep an eye on you." Stephanie looked relieved to have said it, but all it did was release feelings that didn't need to be. "And as more bodyguards showed up around you, I... Asked for some 'reinforcements'. And that's why Chris and Sophie showed up. This was before everything else. Before Ange, and the Principal team."  
Charlotte swallowed more than just the sandwich. She wasn't surprised, or even insulted; more important things than her friends were fake for her. "Don't worry about it, Stephanie." Charlotte leaned over the basket and smiled. "You were a good actor."  
Stephanie managed to laugh it off. "Was that supposed to be reassuring, Princess?" The macabre tone hanging in the air slowly drifted away as the two finished their sandwiches.

"Where'd you...?" Holding the wine bottle in her arms like a child, and trying to stop herself drooling, Dorothy gave Quelvo a blinding look. "Where'd you find this?!"  
Quelvo smiled, for once. "I see your tastes really have matured, if you can appreciate something like this without even taking the cork off."  
At Quelvo's comment, Dorothy almost attacked the bottle, trying to pull the cork out with brute strength.  
Quelvo considered letting Dorothy continue until she really did pull it out, but ended up passing her the corkscrew anyway. "Don't spill it. Almost lost my arms for it. Again."  
Dorothy's head jerked up, and she couldn't help but gingerly eye Quelvo's chrome arms whilst she took the corkscrew. "And you're the one calling me reckless."  
"I don't have much reason left not be to reckless, Dorothy." With an uneasy smile, Quelvo watched Dorothy yank the cork off, and fill the room with the rich, pleasant aroma of wine. One that the two had smelt time and time again.  
"Come on, Quelvo, don't talk like that..." Dorothy surrendered, not knowing what to say. "We've all had our fair share." Pouring a glass for each of them, Dorothy passed one to Quelvo, and sat the bottle back in the case. "Well, you might as well enjoy it. Cheers, Quelvo."  
"Cheers. To the sweeter things."  
"To taking care of yourself."  
After a wry smile shared between the two, they lifted their glasses to their lips and drank.


	5. An Unscheduled Return

"Well," Stifling a yawn, Stephanie popped out of the background again. "I think that should do it for today." Patting Charlotte on the shoulder for a 'job well done', she began to pack up her things.  
"Really? Charlotte lowered her gun and took her focus off the dummies, each one peppered and glanced with bullet holes. "But I barely even managed to hit them..." Trying not to sound disheartened, Charlotte followed Stephanie across the range to help her. Passing by the door, Charlotte saw how dark it had gotten. Perhaps it was just the winter weather, but time seemed to pass awfully quickly with a gun in your hand.  
"Don't feel too bad about it. I've said it before, but being able to hit people in this profession isn't too important." Stephanie mumbled whilst packing away spare targets, and carefully putting the rifle she had been playing with back into it's proper place. "Especially not from that range. We're not supposed to get into shoot-outs, after all."  
Charlotte watched whilst she tried to flip the safety switch on again. "But Ange--"  
"Of course Ange can shoot the gun out of someone's hand whilst flying through the air, Princess." Stephanie cut Charlotte off with a sharp tone. "Well, I mean I'm sure I could too, but that's not the point. All the fancy stuff she does is extra." Shutting the lid and turning back to Charlotte, she cast her eyes up to the box above them. "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that even if you're no good like this, you'll be surprised how useful it is when you actually need to use it."  
Finally catching the switch, Charlotte stowed it away in the pockets of her uniform, slightly hesitant to let go. "Well, let's hope I won't have to use it."  
"That's the dream, Princess." With an understanding smile, the two crossed the range again. Shouting up the ladder, Stephanie called out to Dorothy. "Sorry to call the book club to a close, but it's getting dark out there!" Hammering on the struts of the ladder, she didn't receive any reply. "Ugh... Princess, if you could just wait here." An ugly expression on her face, Stephanie straddled the ladder. "Leave this to the professionals."  
Charlotte watched Stephanie climb the ladder with a frightening efficiency. 

Even between two heavyweights, a whole bottle of wine was enough to get them laughing. A light, easy atmosphere hung in the air as Dorothy did most of the talking, and Quelvo listened intently to whatever story she had to tell.  
"Surely, Quelvo, you must have a story or two to tell?" Dorothy passed the baton across the room. "You've been silent for two years. Must have had plenty of fun times."  
"Fun? I don't know..." Quelvo receded slightly, nursing her chin. "It was mostly just guerrilla stuff in the east. You know, stakeouts and the like." She sounded disappointed, actually. "It's a pretty country, but it gets boring quick. I'd much rather be doing what you are."  
Dorothy chuckled at the idea. "I don't think the uniform would suit you. Besides, it's not all that fun watching Ange steal all the glory. And the girls, too."  
"You'll laugh at it when you're older, Dorothy." Quelvo replied with a sage look. "Ah, but now that I think about it, I had my own run in with some odd types back in the east."  
Dorothy sat back, eager to hear. "Ah, hopefully you had more success than us."  
"I wouldn't say so. Some Japanese spy, Oboro, needed a bit of help, so Control sent me in--" Before she could continue, a spry voice interjected.  
"Oh, you got her to talk, did you?" Impressed, Stephanie's slowly rose up. "And here I thought I'd be needing a body bag." She murmured whilst walking up to Dorothy's seat. "Now if you'll excuse us, we've got to be going. I'm sure Ange's already been found out and they've burnt the place to the ground by now." Avoiding Quelvo's sight, Stephanie waited impatiently for Dorothy to stand up.  
"Sure, sure..." Dorothy made a show of slowly standing, stopping every few seconds to grab her wounded leg.  
"We can always leave you here." Stephanie watched, unimpressed. "I was taught how to drive, too, you know."  
Dorothy darted up.  
"Wow, careful you don't hurt yourself now, Dorothy." Stephanie grabbed Dorothy's arm before she could sit down again in protest. Dorothy and Quelvo shared a breif but polite goodbye, before Dorothy was almost dragged out of the room and down the ladder. Stephanie didn't enjoy pulling the two apart, but was thankful to be as far away from Quelvo as possible.  
"I hope you're happy, Steph." The three made their way back to the car quickly, as the cold air of the night began to descend on them.  
"Very much so." Climbing inside and offering Charlotte her hand, Stephanie seemed happy to be back on the way home.  
"Charlotte, did you have fun today?" Dorothy went through the motions of starting up the car.  
"Of course, Dorothy. Thank you for taking us. I've learnt a lot today, to my surprise." Settling down onto the soft seats, Charlotte felt a wave of calm come over her. She didn't notice until now, but her  
shoulders had been tense for hours now.

Back at Queen's Mayfaire, Charlotte was happy to be somewhere familiar again. At the very least, once she handed her gun back to Dorothy at the club room, it was as though a great weight had slipped off her shoulders. Not having to deal with Stephanie, or Dorothy, or even Quelvo, Charlotte drifted down the empty evening corridors drowsily, letting herself recharge.  
"Charlotte!" Opening the door to her room, Charlotte was shocked to find Ange waiting for her, in her spy gear. She was happy to see she had ditched the 'Princess Wig', but a tense look hung on her face. "I'm sorry for what happened this morning..."  
"You don't need to worry about it, Ange. Besides, I can use a gun now, so I bet I could impersonate you, too!"  
Ange didn't laugh. Something about the way she held herself suggested it wasn't the time for joking. "Beatrice found out about Operation Changeling."  
Charlotte closed the door behind herself instincitvely. "What?"  
"She said she was going to report to the authorities and was out the door before I could stop her." Ange's usual monotone voice wobbled back and forth. "It's not safe here. For either of us."  
"What do you mean?" Charlotte rushed to Ange's side, confused. "She wouldn't sell us out, would she?"  
"She's too reckless." Ange held up the C-Ball. "That's why we have to leave, now."  
Charlotte was running out of questions. "Leave?" She tried to calm Ange, grabbing her hands with as sympathetic of a grap as she could manage. "To... To where, Charlotte?"  
Ange wrapped an arm around Charlotte, and used the other to activate the C-Ball. The two were immediately drenched in a stinging green light. "To the Black Lizard Planet."  
Charlotte's vision swam through a sea of green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should've spent some more time with Quelvo. But it's not like I can't just write another fic with her in it. I was just starting to get bored of the setting.


	6. Aurora Cavorite

After what could have been a decade, Ange's face finally pierced through the veil of green warping Charlotte's vision. "Ch-Charlotte?" Afraid, Charlotte clutched onto Ange. The two were surrounded in a deep, all-consuming black, as though they were rocketing through space. Charlotte wished they were moving, but in reality, there was nothing to tell her that. No star brushed past, and no planet sprouted out of the horizon. Only the sensation of floating, helplessly, through nothing remained. The void permeated everything; Charlotte's thoughts were fuzzy and disconnected, and her arms were numb, despite their desperate clinging to Ange. "Are we really...?" Unable to finish the sentence - it still sounded like nonsense to her - Charlotte wrapped herself further around Ange with every word, terrified of falling, or being cast, into the abyss surrounding her. After getting no answer, she looked up into Ange's eyes, and saw nothing but the same void she was drowing in.  
"It's the only safe place left." The kindness returned to her face, after one terrifying second. Her arms held Charlotte close in return, and in response the C-Ball's glow intensified, threatening to almost light up the blackness enveloping the two.  
Charlotte's senses returned to her, as some of the fuzziness in her brain cleared for a moment. "But... I have to become Queen! I have to..." Charlotte's speech felt like cotton in her mouth. She could hardly even remember what she was going to say. "I have to destroy the wall! The wall..."  
"The one around my heart, Princess?" Ange smiled as she filled in for Charlotte. "You don't need to worry about that now." Ange seemed to glow with a light more intense than that of the C-Ball's hum.  
Feeling her mind cloud up again, Charlotte nuzzled her face into Ange's chest, unable to think or speak anymore.  
They drifted in silence for so long. The fuzziness in Charlotte's brain came and went, and Ange occasionally told her stories about the Black Lizard Planet. Stories that sounded familiar, but impossibly foreign. As though her favourite childhood stories had been ground through a million translations, back and forth, until it was unrecognisable. Some made Charlotte sick to her stomach, but she felt herself drawing closer and closer to Ange with every word she heard. As though she was melting into her.  
"This story is called 'The Robot With No Arms'." Ange stopped and started randomly, sometimes becoming bored of the story and stopping halfway through. "A long time ago, on the Black Lizard Planet, before we even learnt how to speak, we were trapped inside caves whilst a terrible storm raged outside. Unable to tend our crops or hunt animals, we were afraid we might all perish." Despite Ange's words implying she was there, her voice didn't even have a shred of sadness. In fact, she sounded almost happy. "Desperate, we constructed a robot from whatever we could find around us. We made it from rocks, and tied it together with the white herbs we found underground. But when we went to give it arms and legs, we found we didn't have enough sticks for both. We decided that having it crawl along the ground would be too pitiful, so we gave it legs instead of arms, and cast it out into the storm to bring us food." Ange's arms tightened around Charlotte again, even though she was sure they shouldn't have been able to. "Through sheer luck, the robot was incredibly resourceful. Despite us not giving it arms, it persisted through sheer grit. It kicked down trees and rolled boulders down hills to trap and kill animals, and carved it's head into a knife to protect itself. It brought us food, and we survived, but as we watched it survive, we grew scared of it. Whenever it brought us more twigs, we made sure to burn them, fearing what would happen if we gave it arms. We were afraid of it drilling a hole through it's body and slotting a branch between it, so we coated it's body in leather. We were afraid of it attacking us with it's spiked head, so we draped it in more herbs." Ange's voice still didn't waver. "It continued to bring us food until the winter was over. When we left the cave and returned to our cities, the robot continued to bring us twigs and food. A century later, the last member of the team who built it hunted it down, and fired it into space in fear of it outliving him, hoping it would land in the sun and burn up." Ange stopped there. Charlotte wanted to ask about the robot's fate, but still couldn't manage the words.  
Another eternity passed, and then Ange spoke up again.  
"Princess..." She slowly shook Charlotte awake.  
Whether she had been asleep or not, the experience was a lot unlike waking up. It felt like being pieced back together. Parts of her body woke up seperately, and she found her eyes able to move before her eyelids could blink again. Her tongue came to life, and fought around in her paralyzed jaw. She began to feel her chest again, but was terrified to be unable to feel her heart. This order continued in the worst possible way, until she was fully awake again. She could see Ange mouthing her name, but couldn't hear it until the very last second.  
"We're here, Princess." Ange uncurled herself from around Charlotte, until they were just holding hands, and span them both around.  
Charlotte was surprised they had actually made it. She was starting to believe they would drift forever. She had even begun to take comfort in the idea.  
"We're here..." Ange seemed barely able to believe herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter this time. This story may potentially go on a breif hiatus because I'm an idiot who can't control himself. If it does, I'll start a different one and then finish this off later.


	7. An Empty World

The only thing telling Charlotte that they were close was Ange. If not for her smile, Charlotte wouldn't have any idea what was going on.  
"Charlotte..." Breaking her staredown with the infinite blackness around her to look at Ange, her brow furrowed to find the C-Ball was no longer active, or even present. "Are... We there? I can't see anything." As she spoke, Charlotte began to feel a slight wind brush past her.  
Ange looked dissapointed. "You can't see it?" She gripped Charlotte's hand tighter, still smiling. "Then I'll show you."  
Charlotte's neck moved on it's own. Forcing her eyes away from Ange, it twisted across the horizon until she was staring straight forwards, and then locked into place. Unable to move, Charlotte's eyes were possessed by the same force, and froze as well. Having to force her jaw to move, Charlotte spoke up. "I still can't--"  
A black dot opened up in the centre of her vision. Even darker than everything else, if that was even possible. A pearl of sheer black, staring Charlotte right in the face. The wind intensified, to the point it was difficult to keep her eyes open. It occured to her, then, that they were falling.  
"Closer... Closer..." Charlotte couldn't see Ange anymore, her vision still fixed on the planet, but her obsessive tone was enough to tell her what was happening. "5..." After a moment, the countdown begun, and Charlotte jammed her eyes shut, terrified of what was down there. "4..." The wind felt like it was tearing her hair out, and ripping her unfiorm apart. "3..." She felt Ange pull her closer, and wrap her arms around her. "2..." The next numbers were whispers in her ear. "1..." Charlotte's body grabbed Ange, as if it would save her, and hugged her as close as possible. She heard a faint laugh. "Touchdown..."

They landed soft, despite everything suggesting they would be rent apart on impact. Charlotte didn't dare open her eyes, or even move. She felt Ange slowly let go of her, the warmth of her body leaving her alone. This, more than anything, begged her to open her eyes. To be alone on this planet, to have Ange abandon her, would be a death sentence. Sitting up and blinking away the glare, Charlotte tried to look around. Ange, a few feet away, was cooling the C-Ball whilst looking around for something. Charlotte was relieved to find she hadn't left, and as she tried to stand, she found they were standing on an elegant patchwork of black and white. A hill of it, actually. They had landed on a cushion, it seemed, in the middle of a volcanic ash-black wasteland. Had someone been waiting for them?  
"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Ange caught Charlotte by surprise as she surveyed their surroundings. She felt Ange grab her hand.  
"Wonderful?" Charlotte didn't want to insult Ange, but couldn't help but feel underwhelmed. At the least, it was black, and seemed like the perfect habitat for lizards. "But... Where is everyone?"  
Ange's smile wavered slightly, and Charlotte knew it was too soon to have asked that. Ange looked down, and Charlotte followed her eyes. The patchwork cushion below them slowly became more distinct. The pattern intensified, until it was almost familiar, even recognizable. Sparks of yellow darted about, and Charlotte was thrown off balance.  
"Charlotte---?! What's going on?" Unable to stand, Charlotte fell, and began rolling down the cushion's side, and landing in a cloud of black dust. Rubbing it out of her eyes, her eyes darted back up to the top, to see Ange standing easily under the twitching of the pillow.  
"Welcome to the Black Lizard Planet, Princess!" Her smile beamed down, and Charlotte could hardly look at her. Averting her eyes, she tried to climb up the pillow again.  
As soon as she pressed into the pillow, she remembered the pattern. She was wearing it as well. Immediately, as if it's cover had been broken, the pillow burst to life.  
Identical arms, faces, locks of hair, and legs all swarmed out of it, pouring towards Charlotte. All smiling, all singing her name, and all reaching out, an ocean of Charlottes emered from the pillow. Like a surprise party, they wrapped their arms around her. Instantly bowled over, Charlotte was buried under a mountain of herself. Ange was nowhere to be found.  
"Ch-Charlotte?!" Calling out into the pattern of Charlottes, Charlotte tried not to get too flustered.  
"Yes?" The Charlottes replied in unison. They pulled themselves closer, until they could rub their faces against hers.  
Charlotte didn't know what she expected. "Ange?!"  
"Yes?" She received the same reply.  
Already tired of this back-and-forth in the half-darkness of the Charlotte pile, Charlotte stood up and tried to swim through it. Hesitant to step on her own face, she took off her shoes, and found they were consumed by the pillow and torn apart before she could even put them down. Climbing through the Charlottes, she found it to be surprisngly easy, as the Charlottes grabbed out to reach her, and pulled her forwards as she moved through them. Moving towards the light, Charlotte felt the Charlottes' grip grow stronger as she got closer. They seized her uniform, stroked her legs, and took whatever part of her they could get. As though they knew it would hurt, though, they left her hair alone. Her progress grew to a halt as their hands curled around her wrists and ankles, holding her in place.  
"Charlotte!" Charlotte called into the light. Ignoring the chorus of replies, she searched for Ange's voice.  
"Princess!" Ange's voice pierced through the shouting and singing of the Charlottes. She couldn't tell where it was coming from, but was relieved to know she was there.  
The Charlottes began to curl themselves around Charlotte, in some kind of defensive act. The light grew dim again as their bodies pressed against her.  
"Princess!"  
Swamped in identical faces, Charlotte felt the fuzziness return to her head.  
"Princess!"  
Now in complete darkness, Charlotte felt a hand on her shoulder. A different hand.  
"Charlotte!"  
"Ange!"  
Her eyes burst open. Ange was next to her. In place of the Charlottes, a thick duvet wrapped around her. A stream of cold sweat dripped down her back, but she wasn't afraid anymore.

"Ange..." Ange smiled, but it was nothing like the dream. Instead, it was full of Ange's quiet, pure, desperate love.  
"Just a dream?" Charlotte could still feel Ange's hand holding her own.  
"Of course, Princess. You're safe, now." Ange leaned closer to Charlotte. "I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for the support for this fic, i've had a lot of fun writing it. Good news, after years of painstaking research deep in the alpine mountains, our best and brightest have finally got a new ship working. Look forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> Stephanie is one of the characters from Princess Principal's mobage, GAME OF MISSION. For a quick backstory, Stephanie is a Commonwealth spy who attends Queen's Mayfaire alongside our main squad. She's a very popular girl at the school, but she's also a very experienced and competent spy, and once a mission comes up she has trouble balancing the two.


End file.
